Save Some Cash, Get Unplugged

For Ben Veligdan, a music teacher in Brooklyn's Coney Island neighborhood, opening the electricity bill became a monthly surprise. There's no way more than $100 a month for him and a cat could be normal, right? So, Ben looked around his modest one-bedroom apartment for the culprit and decided unplugging his computer when sleeping or away at work would be a start. To his delight, the bill fell almost immediately.

Electric SuperCar For Recession-Proof Rich Guys

Take a sports car, add a dollop of Bruce Wayne and a generous helping of James Bond, and you might have an idea what it's like to drive the Tesla Roadster.

The electric super-car, unveiled in '06, is impressive by any conventional measure. Years later, the two-seater is still one of just a handful of electric cars on the road that can hold its own alongside any gas-powered challenger -- and is by far one of the most stylish of the bunch.

A Porsche Hybrid?

Porsches are known for the sound of their rippling horsepower under the hood, but the company's new gas-saving hybrid actually runs on batteries more than half the time, leaving the driver with little more than the sound of the wheels on the road.

Using a parallel full hybrid design developed with Volkswagen and Audi engineers, the prototype Porsche Cayenne S Hybrid relies on a combination of internal combustion and electric power to reduce C02 emissions and boost mileage from 14 mpg in the city to 24 mpg.

That's still only half what the Toyota Prius hybrid gets, but then again, it's an SUV. The company wants to improve mileage further by the time the Cayenne S Hybrid hits the market in 2010.

Cocktails with Camper: Earth Day Eco-Drinks

When you plan your annual Earth Day cocktail party this April 22 (everyone has one, don't they?) choose green drinks to keep with the theme.

Drinking ecologically should be as easy as swapping out the nonorganic cocktail ingredients with organic ones -- but in reality, there aren't that many organic types of liquor on the market with which to mix.

Great Gifts for Hardcore Greenies

Whether you're looking for the perfect gift for your favorite tree-hugger or just trying to keep the "green" mentality, there are plenty of choices out there, from carbon offsets to bamboo lingerie.

The selection of green gift ideas has grown along with public interest in Earth-friendly, or sustainable, products and practices. So, for the hardcore greenie who has everything, how about something to stop global warming?

Cute, "Smart" and Cleaner

 

If you live in a urban setting, chances are you've already seen the super cute (and very easy to park) "Smart fortwo" zipping around city streets.

Now, Tesla Motors says their company is now developing an electric version of the Smart "microcar" with Daimler AG, and plans to initially produce 1,000 of the vehicles -- with plans to expand to tens of thousands of vehicles per year, if successful in the U.S. market.